Some speculation in the press has suggested that the current White House deliberations on General McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan might be largely a political tactic. But two recent articles in the Wall Street Journal suggest that Obama and his advisers are indeed rethinking key assumptions which have underpinned U.S. policy: in particular, the assumption that al Qaeda would have a "safe haven" in Afghanistan if the Taliban regain control of parts of the country. Two other assumptions that have driven U.S. policy also deserve White House review: the assumption that an al Qaeda safe haven in Afghanistan would significantly increase the terrorist threat to the United States, and the assumption that a Taliban military victory would necessarily follow a U.S. military withdrawal.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/is-team-obama-really-reth_b_311166.html http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/6/125324/849 http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/360 -- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] Senator Feingold Calls for Timetable for U.S. Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/exit-afghanistan _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
